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Roodepoort v Rustenburg in Final

Sat, 19 Apr 2014 20:06

Roodepoort and Rustenburg Impala will battle it out for the historic Gold Cup in the Community Cup Final on Monday.

They both registered well-deserved victories in their respective semifinals on Saturday.

Roodepoort booked their place in the Final following a tense showdown against tournament debutantes Hamiltons for their 20-18 victory, while Rustenburg Impala outplayed 2013 runners up College Rovers 32-13.

In the early matches on Saturday, Roses United held on for a 39-31 victory against Old Selbornians, while last year's champions Despatch shut out Centurion for a 23-21 victory.

All the scorers and scorers!

Roses United 39 (36) Old Selbornians 31 (17)

A strong first half showing by Boland club, Roses United, allowed them to bounce back from their defeat on the opening day of the Community Cup.

The team started the clash with a bang thanks to a few fantastic line breaks and good support play, which earned them three tries in the first nine minutes.

They continued their dominance as the half progressed and were awarded a penalty try soon after, while hooker Kelvin Fikster scored his second try of the day in the 26th minute for a 31-3 lead.

Old Selbornians, however, stepped up their game and did well to string together phases, which paved the way for them to force their way back into the match.

This despite replacement forward Duran Alberts receiving a red card for a dangerous tackle. Old Selbornians flyhalf Curtis Kleinhans was the first player to cross the tryline for his team in the 30th minute and centre Jack van Coller followed soon after.

Roses United, however, hit back on the stroke of half-time with their fifth try to enter the break with 36-17 lead.

The second half, however, was dominated by Old Selbornians, who added two more tries to their tally thanks to their improved attack and solid defence.

This allowed them to come within striking range of winning the match in the dying minutes as they trailed 36-31. But a last-minute penalty by Roses United sealed the victory for the Boland side.

Similarly to Roses United, an impressive start to the match set up Despatch for their first victory of the tournament against Centurion.

The Port Elizabeth side used their possession well and applied pressure on Centurion, and the rewards followed with two first-half tries by lock Trichardt van Tonder and hooker Bobby Dyer to add to a penalty by flyhalf Monty Dumond for an encouraging 15-0 lead.

The Pretoria side, however, bounced back strongly after the break and had the first say with lock Yves Bashiya crossing the tryline for their first points of the match.

A few tight exchanges followed, but Centurion again penetrated the defence in the 67th minute to trail 18-14.

Despatch replacement back Elcardo Mintoor managed to alleviate some of the pressure on his team with 11 minutes to go as he touched down for their third try.

But the Pretoria side refused to give up and found space on the left side of the field to set up fullback Christiaan Burger for a third try with five minutes left on the clock.

They then had a golden opportunity to snatch a victory with a penalty in the dying minutes, but flyhalf Steven Moir, who converted all three tries, was unsuccessful in his goal kick, which denied the team a victory.

Scorers:

Despatch:
Tries: Dyer, Mintoor, Van TonderCon: DumondPens: Dumond 2

Centurion:
Tries: Burger, Jacobs, BashiyaCons: Moir 3

Rustenburg Impala 32 (19) College Rovers 13 (6)

Rustenburg Impala booked their place in the Community Cup Final in style as they delivered a fine all-round performance against 2013 finalists College Rovers for a convincing 32-13 victory.

The team took control of the match with their strong attack and supported this with a solid defensive effort and a good showing in the set pieces.

Such was the high quality of Rustenburg Impala's attack they crossed the tryline three times in the first half thanks to the solid platform laid by their forwards, while College Rovers had only two penalties to show for their efforts.

This handed Rustenburg Impala a handy 19-6 half-time lead.

A drop-goal by Willem Kok and penalty by Wilco de Wet inflated their lead to 25-6 in the third quarter, but College Rovers hit back soon after with their only try of the match by centre Quinton Crocker.

They continued to fight their way back, but were shut out by Rustenburg Impala's resilient defence. Despite having the victory wrapped up, the Leopards club played until the final whistle, which saw Earl Lewis cross the tryline in the final minute to push the score to 32-13.